Once imprisoned and now blacklisted by the government, the Moustache Brothers’ comedy troupe continues to push the country’s political envelope.

Working in the gravel yard was never supposed to be a part of life for Burma’s notorious Moustache Brothers comedy troupe. But on January 7, 1996, two of its members—U Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw—were arrested in Mandalay, a day after delivering a series of politically sensitive jokes during an Independence Day performance at Aung San Suu Kyi’s house in Rangoon.

They were initially sentenced to seven years in prison, with the first stop being the distant Kyein Kran Ka Hard Labor Camp in northern Burma’s Kachin State. Cut off from their family back home, the two cousins began their five-and-a-half arduous years in Burma’s penal system before being released in July 2001.